14.1MP budget compact superzoom

At full telephoto setting and widest maximum aperture (f/5.6), there was a noticeable degree of vignetting (darkening of the corners of the frame) when shooting brighter scenes. Stopping down the aperture to f/7.1 reduced this significantly.

Colours are bright, holding up well at even ISO 1600, as here (although it is starting to break up in the shadows). The Canon PowerShot SX150 IS's Auto White Balance errs on the slightly warm side, although not unpleasantly so.

The darker tone of the background has led to the slight overexposure of the white dress and glasses, and close-up inspection shows some posterisation in the pink areas. There are plenty of manual controls to override the camera's exposure, including exposure compensation of +/- 2EV in 1/3 stop increments.

The four-stop advantage that the Canon PowerShot SX150's Intelligent Stabilisation offers means you can get useable results at longer focal lengths or lower light levels than you might expect. However, for the sharpest pictures it's still wise to support the camera with two hands, even though all its controls can be adjusted with one.